1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the remote control-of and/or interaction-with electronic-devices such as computers; home-entertainment-systems; media-centers; televisions; DVD-players; VCR-players; music systems; displays; appliances; security systems; games/toys; or any other type of device that user(s) may control or interact with.
2. Description of Related Art
Current remote controls are complex to use because of the large number of control-buttons they have. Some remotes have over 50 physical buttons. In addition, some remotes utilize multi-button functional combinations which further increase the user complexity. Many users do not know what all the buttons do or how to use them. At any given time, only a portion of the buttons may be functional; but the presence of these non-functional buttons makes it more difficult for the user to find the button for the desired function.
The large quantity of buttons leads to small size buttons that are tightly packed (e.g., large fingers) and small size labels (e.g., farsighted) that present additional difficulties for certain users. The small size buttons often result in text-abbreviations or small-icons that the user has difficulty seeing and/or deciphering their intended function. In addition, the user may be using the remote-control in a darkened room, where limited ambient light may make it difficult to find the desired buttons.
In addition, in many applications, the user is required to continually switch between nearsighted tasks (of looking at the control buttons) and farsighted tasks (of looking up at a display) which may present range of focus/correction problems for certain users.
In addition, if the user presses the wrong button, the remote-control may enter a mode that the user doesn't know how to get out of or to accidentally make changes to the set-up configuration that the user may not know how to undo or must expend great effort to determine how to undo.
In addition, the user must use specific navigation buttons such as up; down; right; and/or left to move the selection-point on the screen. The user often needs to press the navigation buttons multiple times and in a particular order to arrive at the desired selection point. In addition, the user may need to alternately look up to the screen and back-down to the navigation and/or other control buttons multiple times; to check that the navigation movements or control actions are happening as expected and the intended action is occurring.
Some prior art has used an illumination-pointer (e.g., laser-pointer). For example, a camera may be mounted separately and remotely from the display, in-order to “see” the pointer's spot. A major disadvantage of a separately mounted camera is that the difficulty in setting-up, adjusting, aligning and calibrating the camera to be able to see and recognize a specific region. The need to set-up a separate camera increases the user complexity and increases the time and effort required before the user can begin using their purchase(s).
In addition, if the camera's view is incorrectly set-up or is later disturbed, the camera may not be able to “see” the region of interest with sufficient accuracy.
In addition, there are many situations where the desired location(s) for a remotely located camera are undesirable from the user's perspective due to aesthetic or other competing uses for that location (e.g., in a home family-room or living-room).
In addition, in some configurations and applications, other users or everyday objects may temporarily or suddenly block the remotely located camera's view. For example, a user may stand or place a real-world object (e.g., a chair) between the remotely located camera and the display. When this happens, the system will suddenly stop working and the user may not realize why and become frustrated. The user may blame the system for being unreliable and wish to return their unit.
In addition, if the user wants to move the display to a new location or to different viewing angle, the remote camera must also be moved and then the set-up process repeated again. This significantly increases the user complexity and prevents the user from quickly moving their display to other locations (e.g., another room) or to other viewing angles (e.g., turning or tilting the display to prevent glare or so others users can also see the display).
In addition, those skilled in the art will realize that there are many other disadvantages of using a separately positioned camera to view the pointer's spot on a display.
What is desired is a simpler way of remotely controlling and/or interacting-with electronic-devices.